Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Pricks And Pills, Anna A. Charles

Theses and Dissertations

"Pricks and Pills" is a collection of audio pieces designed for an online platform where individuals with diabetes can listen to and find emotional support from others who share their experiences. This audio project provides an intimate look into the lives of people navigating the challenges of diabetes. Through heartfelt interviews with individuals and their families, the podcast highlights their journeys, showcasing both their struggles and triumphs.

Blurring The Boundaries: The Filmmaking Approach Toward Remission, John M. Mastriano

Theses and Dissertations

Remission explores the filmmaker’s personal experience with grief and fatherhood as well as the importance of a shared connection with the natural world that transcends life and death. Though primarily a first-person, reflexive short documentary film, Remission draws from other documentary models and modes, blurring the boundaries of documentary filmmaking.

Reflections Of Little Red Dot: An Interactive Mixed Reality Archival Experience, Chloé Lee

Theses and Dissertations

It has been nearly a decade since I last visited Singapore, a place I am connected to yet an outsider. Reflections of Little Red Dot is a mixed-reality experience that animates my archive of drawings, videos, and 3D imagery from everyday Singaporeans in 2015, the year their country celebrated its 50th birthday.

Walking through this liminal mixed reality space, we hear how citizens are personally affected by the rapidly developing landscape and erasure of personal and historical sites of significance while reflecting on our collective agency to shape the future of our environments. We are invited into homes where loved …

Rgb Root Matriz Color Dance, Danielle E. Gauthier

Theses and Dissertations

RGB Root Matriz Color Dance (Color Dance) is an immersive, interactive experience that combines poetic phrases and color filters to create a womb-like environment. Designed by Danielle Gauthier, this artistic piece uses a webcam to respond to users’ movements in real time, allowing them to confront and express their emotions through metaphor and dance. Color Dance creates a unique platform for self-discovery and empowerment by fostering a connection between the body and discomforting emotions.

Erase The Record, Anne Sofie Noerskov

Theses and Dissertations

Erase the Record follows a young immigrant as she embarks on a magical journey to unearth her vanished memories and elusive cultural identity.
The film delves into the malleable nature of memory in an allegorical universe in which myth, dream, and magic coexist. Slowly unfolding themes of immigration and the imagination, the film sprung from a personal desire to approach immigration as a psychological experience. Erase the Record explores how the physical landscapes we inhabit affect us, and how memory, language, and time are stored in a body and in a landscape.

Lost In The Times Of Yesterday And Other Stories, Anes Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

Lost in the Times of Yesterday is an ongoing collection of fiction that features short stories who, while varying differently from one another, are all intertwined by the themes of immigration, post-colonialism, and Arabic and Arab-American identity, aiming to capture the diverse orchestra of Egyptian and Egyptian-American voices through the lens of magical realism. Some examples: the grief of a village girl and her attempt to understand her father’s ghost; an Egyptian-American actor whose slow physical disappearance leads to an examination of identity within contemporary performance; and the life of boy born with chestnut wings in a Brooklyn apartment.

The Set Falls Apart, Thomas F. Tait

Theses and Dissertations

Using systems, puppets, and reappropriated technologies as central features of my practice, in my work I explore allegorical connections and cross-affiliations between otherwise separate ontological categories. In this text, I draw on sources such as affect theory, science fiction, theater, and the uncanny, to consider our affectual relationship to the nonhuman.

Dear Dad,, Kimin Kim

Theses and Dissertations

A father-to-son relationship is often described as cold, distant, and detached. Mine was no different. A son looking for his father's approval for his entire life, realizing the approval has to be given by himself, not from his father.

間, Lele Dai

Theses and Dissertations

LeLe Dai makes contingent participatory public interventions using sensory materials such as sound, flickering light, and water. This paper examines their works through the lens of Chinese character Jian (間), meaning “gap/slit/incision,” to investigate the concept of “in-betweenness.”

Bengal Memory, Fahim Hamid

Theses and Dissertations

Bengal Memory is a documentary short film, told through an expository and personal lens, about a forgotten genocide that occurred in Bangladesh during its Liberation War, the controversial role that the U.S. government played in it, and how the lives of Bengali people in both the homeland and in the American diaspora were shaped by these events. As a Bangladeshi American and narrator of this story, I traveled to my native country to investigate. My father, Mohammed, had lived through the 1971 war and recounts his memories of the atrocities committed by West Pakistan, which claimed the lives of a …

Corre Y Se Va: A Collection Of Ramblings, Daniella Arredondo

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores womanhood, death, and life writings. Through various pieces of nonfiction writings and poetic writings, this thesis reacts to each theme by making a personal connection to certain moments in the narrator’s life. From the Me-Too moment to a tonsil removal, the narrator situates the thesis as a reactive piece to works like “Borderlands/La Frontera” by Gloria Anzaldúa, nonfiction works, like Chanel Miller’s “Know My Name,” and various news articles around events that relate to each theme. The selections of the themes stem from Loteria, a popular bingo-like game within Hispanic culture. The use of these images creates …

In Absentia, Noreen M. Graf

Theses and Dissertations

In Absentia is a collection of short creative pieces that includes short stories, flash fiction, essay, and comics. The critical introduction aims to place my work into the ongoing dialog surrounding the accelerated portrayal of unlikable female protagonists in contemporary literary fiction.

The Impracticality Of Silk, Jo A. Reyes

Theses and Dissertations

In the impracticality of silk, the author examines and critiques the world through poetry and prose poetry, specifically addressing gender, sexuality, relationships, the borderlands, and canonized art as they view it to foment a new understanding and voice during a time of societal and personal shifts. Further complicating the author’s understanding are questions around desire both within reclaimed sensuality and within Audre Lorde’s larger understanding of desire as foundational and necessary in creation and liberation, and Gloria E. Anzaldúa’s use of autohistoria-teoria and her work within borderlands as ways toward reevaluating and reclaiming identity and place in the larger world. …

A Phenomenological Study Of Latina Poets As Leaders At Higher Education Institutions, Rodney Gomez

Theses and Dissertations

This interpretive phenomenological study addresses the underrepresentation of Latinas in higher education leadership roles by focusing on the lived experiences of Latina poets who have served as higher education leaders. Data, collected through semi-structured participant interviews and participant writing samples, was analyzed through a standard method of thematic analysis. Latin American and U.S. theories of decoloniality and Yosso’s community cultural capital guided interpretation of participant experiences. Five themes emerged from the analysis: border negation, foundational values, othered leadership, importance of community, and writing as necessity. Discussion of participation experiences suggests that ways that poetry and creative writing can be used …

Tarnished Glory: The Exclusion Of Buffalo Soldiers In World War I, David Michael Barron

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the exclusion of the Buffalo Soldier regiments during World War I. Due to the rise of racial discrimination in the early twentieth century, the Buffalo Soldier regiments experienced violence with civilians while stationed in the United States. The violence experienced by African American soldiers would shape decisions that would ultimately impact their involvement in World War I. By examining evidence from their war record in previous conflicts and evidence from the racial violence that occurred while stationed in the US, this thesis will show that their exclusion in World War I was due to poor conduct perpetrated …

Makeup Revolution: How Makeup Changed From The “Ideal Woman To The Redefinition Of The Standard Of Makeup”, Kellie Solomon

Theses and Dissertations

For women, makeup became a mask that was forced upon them and could never be taken off. A woman’s main job was to remain at home, and while this development wasn’t new at this time, it became more common. Cosmetic advertisements would make money off of every woman’s insecurities by starting at an age where they are impressionable only to sell products that may or not work. My goal with this essay was to establish a timeline of makeup’s impact on society that eventually broke down into what is more common for today’s makeup wearers. This endeavor began with women …

Developing Adult English Language Learners' Fluency And Pronunciation Skills Through Readers Theater, Francisca Constanza Jara Scholz

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the impact of Readers Theater (RT) on the fluency and pronunciation skills of adult English language learners (ELLs) at an intermediate proficiency level. Readers Theater, a technique gaining attention in oral language skills development, involves transforming stories into scripts and performing them orally in a dramatic way. While there is limited empirical research on the extended use of this technique, this study employs a quasiexperimental design with control and treatment groups to evaluate its effectiveness based on temporal fluency measures and level achievement tests. Research has identified three particular temporal fluency measures that correlate with second language …

Songs And Flowers Of The Wasatch: Rhetorical Aesthetics And Latter-Day Saint Women's Poetry, Jolyn D. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Although the literary quality of women's poetry from the nineteenth century has long been criticized by literary scholars, recent work in reception studies has documented readers' aesthetic experiences with such poetry in order to appreciate its popularity and appeal (Stauffer). Extending this work in literary reception studies, I draw on scholarship in rhetorical studies, specifically rhetorical aesthetics (Clark), to demonstrate how conventional poetic forms and sentimental appeals can be used by marginalized communities to facilitate identification. I examine Songs and Flowers of the Wasatch, a collection of primarily Latter-day Saint women's poetry compiled by Emmaline B. Wells for the 1893 …

Information Literacy In First Year Writing: A Case Study In Instruction, Rebekah A. Jakeman

Theses and Dissertations

With the emergence of the digital age, and the convenience of producing, accessing, and disseminating information, information literacy (IL) has become a prominent topic in higher education, especially in First-Year Writing (FYW) classrooms. Although much research exists about students' struggle to acquire IL dispositions and practices, there is less scholarship about teachers' attitudes towards IL and how they implement IL concepts in the classroom. Rise Smith proposes that to ensure students master IL skills, higher education must ensure that instructors understand, value and apply IL in their teaching. Therefore, my study focuses on instructors' self-efficacy surrounding IL and how it …

Perceptions Of Tesol Instruction From Varying Feedback Sources, Kylie J. Woffinden

Theses and Dissertations

Many studies in the field of preservice TESOL teacher education focus on expert teacher feedback to preservice teachers but neglect to address other sources of classroom feedback. This study explored how alternate sources of classroom feedback, including peer teachers and students, compare to expert feedback. A total of thirty participants from three different participant groups were featured. The three participant groups were composed of students studying at an intensive English lab school, preservice teachers who worked at the lab school, and the mentors and university instructors that guided those preservice teachers. Data collection took place through feedback sessions, during which …

Lexical Entrenchment And Cross-Language Activation: A Look Inside The Bilingual Brain, Megan Myers

Theses and Dissertations

We used eye-movement measures to identify the extent to which lexical entrenchment and cross-language activation impact bilingual reading between languages with different alphabets. Specifically, we evaluated first fixation duration, first run dwell time, and total dwell time as predictors of lexical entrenchment and cross-language activation. Our data was collected from English-Russian bilinguals reading Russian material. We found that cross-orthographic neighborhood size has a statistically significant effect on eye movement, and phonetic neighborhood size has no significant effect on any of the eye behaviors analyzed.

Lessening Lacunas: A Genetic Critique And Literary Analysis Of Female Indigenous Characters In Maria Firmina Dos Reis's Gupeva, Xana Furtado

Theses and Dissertations

One year after publishing Úrsula (1860), Maria Firmina dos Reis (Brazil’s first female novelist) published Gupeva, a novella that acts as a continuation of José de Santa Rita Durão’s Caramurú: Poema épico do descubrimento da Bahia (1781). Gupeva depicts the ultimately tragic love between Épica, an indigenous woman, and Gastão, a French sailor. The novella was published twice more during Reis’s lifetime—once in 1863, with minimal orthographic changes, and again in 1865, this time with quite drastic modifications. The editors of Echo da Juventude, where the 1865 version was published, acknowledged these changes by asking readers to be "indulgentes para …

College Students' Perceptions Toward Native And Non-Native Chinese And Spanish Instructors, Xiaoce Ye

Theses and Dissertations

Since the recognition of the distinction between native and non-native language teachers in English Language Teaching (ELT), research has focused on understanding the strengths and weaknesses of both types of instructors. However, limited attention has been given to students' perceptions of native teachers (NSTs) and non-native foreign language teachers (NNSTs) beyond English instruction. This thesis delves into college students' perceptions of native and non-native Chinese and Spanish language instructors in language education, extending beyond the native/non-native English teacher debate. Drawing from existing literature on language teaching, this study contextualizes preferences and biases to provide an understanding of student perceptions. Employing …

Visualizing Intergenerational Kinship: Humor, Grief, And Youth-Led Resurgence In Reservation Dogs, Emily Catherine Huillet

Theses and Dissertations

Audiences have been drawn to Reservation Dogs (2021-2023) because of its life-giving humor and portrayal of contemporary Indigenous realities. Yet the series truly gains its rhetorical power as the creators pair humor with intergenerational kinship to process diverse forms of unresolved grief. In fact, through narrative, the filmmakers map out processing grief and bonding through humor as healthy components of intergenerational kinship, and they position Indigenous youth as leading that balanced approach to kinship. I refer to this artistic rhetorical mapping as visual kinship mapping and I view it as a filmic manifestation of cultural mapping processes described by Leanne …

Arthur Is Only Sleeping: A Reawakening Of John Steinbeck's The Acts Of King Arthur And His Noble Knights, Caroline J. Raines

Theses and Dissertations

John Steinbeck, known for his descriptions of the American West, maintained a fascination with the Arthurian legend throughout his life and literary career. Through comparative analysis of Cup of Gold, Tortilla Flat, and The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights, we can see Steinbeck's recurring interest in the Arthurian legend which is often overlooked by scholars. Steinbeck's initial interest in strict translation which evolved into adaptation over the course of his work on The Acts shows his developing interest in Arthurian themes which he enhanced with his own creative abilities as a world-renowned author. By highlighting the gap …

A Corpus Study Of The Effects Of Information Packaging On The Position Of Siempre And Nunca In The Spanish Verb Phrase, Rebekah Geddes

Theses and Dissertations

In Spanish, time adverbs show variability in their position with respect to the modified verb. This thesis investigates the effect of information packaging on the position of VP time-adverbs of frequency. Data were drawn from the Davies WEB Dialects Corpus. Two high-frequency verbs (dar and decir), as well as some of their less frequent near-synonyms (expresar, declarar, mencionar vis-à-vis decir, and ofrecer, entregar, and regalar vis-à-vis dar) were examined in relation to the adverbs siempre and nunca. The data show that when VP adverbs are part of sentence focus and do not have any special emphasis, they are found in …

Manuel Ponce: Father Of Mexican Nationalistic Music, Guillermo Sanchez Gutierrez

Theses and Dissertations

The influence of Manuel Ponce (1882-1948) in early 20th-century Mexico serves as a precursor to the emerging nationalistic sounds sought after the 1910 revolution. Despite the challenges posed by Mexico's music education system, Ponce's private tutelage enabled him to achieve European standards, marking a significant progress in the broader efforts of 19th-century Mexican musicians to attain proper musical training. Ponce's method of creating an authentic Mexican sound involved reconstructing folklore music, blending it with European styles, and aligning himself with the Indigenismo movement. His compositional trajectory, marked by trips to Europe and distinct musical periods such as Romanticism, Nationalism, and …

"A Ghostly Roll Of Drums Remorselessly Beat The Measure Of Life": Mrs. Ramsay's Mediation Of Time And Memory In Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse, Kirsten Walker Burningham

Theses and Dissertations

Virginia Woolf declares she was "obsessed" with her mother's presence. Though Julia Stephen died when Woolf was only thirteen, Woolf spent years negotiating her mother's astonishing influence, culminating in her novel To the Lighthouse. How does one square Woolf's obsession with her Victorian mother considering Woolf's progressive and feminist ideologies? I argue that Mrs. Ramsay--and by extension Julia Stephen--mediated time for their children as a byproduct of their role as maternal caregivers. This mediation is presented as an atmospheric quality or ambience as well as an intervention between subjective experiences and objective measures of time. The measurement and psychology of …

Entre Sombras Y "Bellas Artes": La Ciudad De México Como Escenario Noir En Distinto Amanecer (1943), Linda G. Villarreal Flores

Theses and Dissertations

Con Julio Bracho como director y Gabriel Figueroa en la fotografía, Distinto amanecer llega a las pantallas mexicanas en 1943. A pesar de que la acción de Distinto amanecer ocurre en la Ciudad de México y se conecta con una realidad nacional, el filme abre con un preámbulo que parece minimizar la importancia de esa geografía y de su contexto sociohistórico: “Los personajes de este drama no tienen relación alguna con personas de la vida real. El conflicto dramático que se presenta tiene características universales y puede, por ende, ser situado en cualquier ciudad del mundo contemporáneo”. Todo esto superpuesto …

Student Driven Feedback: A Study In Self-Efficacy, Jennifer L. Dunn

Theses and Dissertations

In this mixed methods research study, I use student survey and interview data from English 11 students at a suburban, public high school to analyze the ways in which students' self-efficacy is impacted when a feedback intervention is introduced that creates the opportunity for students to ask questions about their writing. In this study, I found that as a result of the intervention students showed an increase in their writer-centered efficacy beliefs, reported an awareness of the control and autonomy the intervention provided, and expressed an appreciation for the ways in which teacher feedback can be useful in helping them …